SWITCHING INDUSTRIES

After the long, hard slog of the past few years, you can't blame senior executives for wanting to jump ship. What is surprising is how many want to transfer to another fleet altogether. According to a study by the US-based Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), nearly half of executives surveyed were considering a change in industries. "There are an awful lot of unhappily employed people out there," says Walt Williams, a partner at US executive-search firm Battalia Winston. Among the unhappiest: CFOs. In a survey by ExecuNet, 75 percent of all finance executives in the US looking for new jobs are seeking new sectors.

In some cases, of course, the change has been forced upon them. "Many people have found themselves stuck in industries that are dying, or that crashed and burned, like dot-com or telecommunications," says Williams. Executives in manufacturing and services businesses, which are increasingly sending operations overseas, are among those searching for brighter horizons.

Helping these individuals is the fact that, as hiring picks up, employers are relaxing their search criteria. "When the markets were really tough, potential employers were very picky, and very specific about needing someone with experience in the industry," says Williams. And some industries, such as pharmaceuticals, construction, aerospace, and defense, still require direct sector experience because of specialized accounting standards.

THE MOBILE CFO

But the good news is that for most sectors finance skills are among the most readily transferred. "It's easier for a CFO to change industries than for any other senior officer," says Michele Burns, the former finance chief at Delta Air Lines, who in May accepted the CFO position at Mirant, a US-based energy company now in bankruptcy.

Indeed, skills gained in one industry in many cases are a plus for an employer in a new industry. Take, for instance, Ricky Tsang, who moved from banking to property. Tsang headed up the finance function at Bank of Bermuda Asia. In March he moved to Hysan Development in Hong Kong as CFO, where he is using many of the skills he fine-tuned while in banking, such as managing compliance issues and maximizing capital. "Hysan is an end user of corporate banking services," says Tsang. "A thorough understanding of financial instruments and derivatives help a great deal in terms of decision-making, risk management, and accounting."

The regulatory oversights Tsang is accustomed to in banking also help him oversee financial operations at Hysan, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. "Banking has heavy regulatory compliance, while Hysan has listing rules to comply with," he says. "Both demand a high degree of reporting."

According to Chuck Eldridge, who leads the CFO practice at search firm Korn/Ferry, these days his clients "love finance executives who have switched industries. Ten years ago, they would have wanted someone in the same industry, but now people with three or four moves are viewed as more valuable because they have faced different challenges."

They also tend to come in with a very fresh perspective. "One of the things that is exciting when you change industries is that you get to bring ideas that may have been common [elsewhere] and try them in a new setting," he says. Tsang, for one, is energizing decision-making at Hysan. "There is a need [for Hysan] to move from vertical command and control to horizontal process-led change, on a firm-wide basis. This will facilitate cross-departmental communication and partnership between support and front-line staff."

Yet Tsang points out that it is not just moves between industries that can help a CFO to grow in depth of experience. Moving around within the company can help too. "It's not just the different sectors, but the diversity of different experiences," he says. "I have worked in the back office, middle office, and the front line. This kind of end-to-end process knowledge definitely helps, especially when you can understand your business partners better."

In the end, diversifying across industries makes for a more well-rounded CFO, a plus as the CFO job migrates from straight accountant to master of strategy. Says Tsang: "I would advise anyone to broaden their horizons."

Jennifer Lee and Kat O'Sullivan